Bronx

The second smallest of the five boroughs, the Bronx has a population of
about 1.4 million (2008 Census Bureau Population Estimate).

The borough (whose name, fairly or not, came to be associated with
urban decay) is actually quite diverse in its demographic profile:
some of its neighborhoods are even quite wealthy. Others much less so,
but even the poorest neighborhoods saw noticeable improvements in the last
two decades.

Particularly surprising was the slow but steady gentrification of the
South Bronx, once one of the roughest areas of the city and beyond.
Nowadays, newspapers are replete with ads for apartments and lofts
in Mott Haven and
the area has been often called "SoBro" (a somewhat tongue-in-cheek name,
clearly referencing ultra-fashionable abbreviations such as
Manhattan's SoHo and
TriBeCa). The transformation
started in 1997 with a rezoning law encouraging conversion of industrial
spaces for residential and commercial uses.

Generally, the North-West Bronx (Community District 8, comprising
Riverdale, Marble Hill, and
Kingsbridge)
is more affluent than the rest of the borough. The contrast gets pretty
extreme in Riverdale which
has plenty of large-lot single-family mansions surrounded by
scenic parks.
A sizable proportion of housing in low-income areas is in the form of high-rise housing projects,
although most of the borough's housing stock consists of low-rise and mid-rise buildings.

Today, the Bronx has perhaps the best uptapped supply of affordable
rental apartments - living here is considerably cheaper than
living in most areas of Brooklyn, not to mention Manhattan.

East Bronx: Community Districts 9, 10, 11, 12

Among the borough's attractions are the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, Van Cortlandt Park (the site of free summer performances by
the New York City Philharmonic Orchestra), the Bronx Museum of the Arts and a host of smaller museums, galleries, historical houses and parks.